Peoples Natural Gas details long-term pipeline replacement in Altoona, says city coordination ongoing

Peoples Natural Gas representatives told the Altoona City Council on July 14 that the company’s long-term infrastructure program will continue multi-year replacement of aging pipe in the city and that residents can track project status online.

Doug Minnick, restoration manager for Peoples Natural Gas, said LTIP — the company’s Long Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan — is a 20-year program intended to “replace 3,000 miles of our aging pipeline infrastructure by the year 2034.” He said the company is currently in year 11 of the program and is replacing bare steel pipe with plastic pipe to improve safety and reliability.

Minnick said that, company-wide, about 1,000 miles of pipe have been replaced over the past decade. Specific to Altoona, he told council that since 2020 Peoples has completed about 176 projects representing roughly $21,900,000 of investment and about 40 miles of replaced pipe. He said about 63 miles of targeted pipeline remain in the city and that the company’s plan for 2025 is to replace roughly 10 miles, with a similar pace intended for future years.

Minnick described factors that affect the schedule, including the pipeline integrity group’s prioritization of replacements, whether work is in streets or sidewalks, and efforts to coordinate with other utilities and the city’s paving program to reduce repeated disruption. He said restoration work — paving, sidewalk repair, and lawn restoration — often follows separate contractors and phases. He pointed council members to a public-facing project map on the company website where residents can enter an address to see whether a job is in planning, active construction, or restoration.

Council members acknowledged concerns about surface restoration after utility work. During council discussion, members said the city and utilities need to be “vigilant” to ensure streets are returned to usable condition and noted weather and storm-related delays have slowed some repairs this season.

The company provided contact emails for follow-up questions and offered to share the presentation map with staff for use in city coordination.

Why it matters: Peoples’ program is a long-running, citywide replacement effort that will involve recurring street, sidewalk and right-of-way work. Coordination between the utility and city paving and restoration schedules affects traffic, parking, and the timing of local paving work.

Ending: Council did not take action on the presentation; city staff said they will continue coordinating with Peoples Natural Gas on scheduling and restoration, and residents seeking status on individual addresses were directed to the company’s online construction map.